coaches have ups and downs... i mean sh*t tony dungy was the coach of my team... then the year after he leaves john gruden comes there and wins a superbowl... now what have john done ... pete carrol was horrible coach in the league now hes a legend in college... rick pitino... horrible nba coach... great college coach... so therefore hes still a great coach just cant coach professional... i could go on w/ examples of coaches dry spills .... lol that was an ignorant statement christos and you know it ...

One problem: Every time the Eagles rushed Brady in the Super Bowl, the Patriots nullified the defensive attack with screen passes. Lots of them. On almost every play defensive coordinator Jim Johnson called for a blitz, the Patriots used the short pass to confuse the Eagles.

After the Patriots beat the Eagles 24-21 in 2005 to win the Lombardi Trophy, Brown thought the Patriots beat them with nothing but sharp offensive playcalling. Now, he's not so sure.

With spying accusations leveled this week against the Patriots, some of the Eagles left from the NFC title team are wondering if New England used bootleg film to their advantage in the Super Bowl.

"Do I think about it? Mmm hmmm," said Brown, their starting cornerback. "It's crazy. I just don't know how far back it goes. Something's not right about that."

"Now there's always going to be questions about the situation," Dawkins said Thursday. "Was it great adjustments at halftime or what?"

Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward said this week that he suspected the Patriots had some type of inside information on the Steelers before at least one of the teams' two AFC championship game matchups since the 2001 season. While Ward said the Patriots knew a lot of Pittsburgh's calls, none of the Eagles could offer any type of solid proof of any shenanigans.

"For me to think back two years ago about something they may or may not have done, it's not worth my time," running back Brian Westbrook said.

New England beat the New York Jets in last Sunday's season opener in which an on-field video camera allegedly focusing on Jets coaches was confiscated from a Patriots employee. The league confirmed that it is investigating whether coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots were responsible for taping the Jets' defensive coaches as they signaled to players on the field.

"I would like to think it's just one team doing it, but it doesn't shock me that it happened," Dawkins said.

Some Eagles said occasional signal-stealing is an accepted part of the game. But they believe what the Patriots are accused of doing crosses the football morality line because it threatens the integrity of the game.

"It's different if you're talking about recording it," Dawkins said. "What can you do if you try to signal a play in?"

Eagles coach Andy Reid steered away from questions about the alleged cheating other than to say he has no doubts New England's victory was legitimate.

"That's something Bill and the Patriots are working through," Reid said.

Brown said he noticed a difference in New England's playcalling in the second quarter. After the Patriots gained only 45 yards in the first quarter, they had 286 over the next three.

Brady hit running back Corey Dillon and gained 29 total yards on a pair of screens to open New England's first full drive of the second quarter. They didn't score on that drive, but did on four of the next five drives.

The Patriots went to the screen pass again on the decisive drive early in the fourth quarter, this time with Brady connecting with Kevin Faulk on two passes for 27 yards.

"I was like, 'Man, I never saw that many screens," Brown said.

Brown wonders if it was normal playcalling from a team good enough to win three Super Bowls in four seasons, a Patriots team that used a strong scouting report to gain a fair edge, or was somebody picking up the Eagles defensive calls from a sideline camera that deprived them of a fair shot?

"I think they should forfeit, man," said punt returner Reno Mahe, smiling. "We won the Super Bowl. I think we should get it. I'm going to go trade my NFC championship ring for a Super Bowl ring."

The headline over a picture of Belichick on the back page of Thursday's Philadelphia Daily News might have said it all: "Counterfeit RING: Spy Scandal Helps Explain Birds' Super Bowl Loss."

Hey, maybe the illicit tape would show once and for all if Donovan McNabb really did get sick in the huddle late in the game. Remember, that was Philadelphia's first excuse for losing.

McNabb -- who insisted the Eagles would never stoop to those kind of tactics -- was surprised to hear the allegations against the Patriots. But he said the suspicions might be overblown.

"One thing people are forgetting is that even if you have the answers to the test, you still have to take the test," he said. "If they have an idea of what's coming, those guys still have to be able to execute the play."

That doesn't mean McNabb won't clear some space in his jewelry box. For a city that last saw a pro team win a championship nearly 25 years ago, the Eagles might accept a retroactive one.

"Maybe we'll get our ring back," said a chuckling McNabb. "Maybe we'll get the real one."

GREEN BAY — Call it a gut feeling, a hunch, whatever. But in the moments after the Green Bay Packers' 35-0 loss to the New England Patriots at Lambeau Field last Nov. 19, it seemed odd to cornerback Al Harris how the Patriots had the Packers defense's number.

"It almost looked like they knew what we were doing, you know?" Harris told the State Journal after the Patriots gained 357 yards and completed 20 of 31 passes against the Green Bay defense that day.

"You have to tip your hat to them, the coaches and players. Especially their offense. They ran plays designed for us. They ran plays and made us check out some things. I don't know who calls their plays, but (head coach Bill) Belichick is pretty good. Honestly, he's pretty good."

Or, Belichick was cheating.

On Sunday, NFL security confiscated a video camera and tape from Patriots video a.ssistant Matt Estrella while he was working on the New York Jets' sideline during New England's 38-14 victory.

The league has confirmed that it is investigating whether the Patriots were taping the Jets' defensive coaches as they signaled to players on the field.

Packers spokesman Jeff Blumb confirmed Wednesday that a similar incident occurred during the Packers-Patriots game last year, although Blumb emphasized that the Packers never accused the Patriots of stealing defensive signals. In that incident, Blumb said, Packers security confronted Estrella "late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter."

Blumb said Estrella had an "official credential issued to a Patriots staff member" and was videotaping the game despite not being part of the approved on-field photography pool.

"(The security staff) asked him to put the camera away," Blumb said. "The long and short of it is, he was taken off the field."

After security questioned Estrella, Blumb said Estrella was back behind the Patriots' bench working the still-video machine in the second half.

Asked Wednesday about what he said following last year's game and what he thinks now that the Patriots' alleged spying has come to light, Harris replied, "I remember saying that. Now, when you look back, it's scary. I don't want to say anything wrong towards their organization, because I think highly of their coaching staff and their personnel, but if that's the case, that's not right. I would consider it cheating. I honestly would."

Dynasty in question?

So would Packers quarterback Brett Favre and New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, two of the NFL's biggest stars who addressed the issue in advance of Sunday's game between the Packers and Giants.

Strahan said the scandal calls into question the Patriots' dynasty, which produced three Super Bowl titles in a four-year span.

"When I heard about that, I said, 'Whoa, how long have they been doing that?' Stealing signals? That's pretty heavy, man," Strahan said in a conference call with Wisconsin reporters. "I don't know if that's much different than the cheating ref (NBA official Tim Donaghy) in basketball.

"It just makes you wonder how long they've been doing this and has it really helped them win some games? And if they've been doing it in those games that they won Super Bowls in or won playoffs in. It does make you wonder. Because that team has won some big games. I'm not saying that stealing signals definitely did it, because they have extremely talented players, but obviously it didn't hurt if they were doing it."

Favre, who was knocked out of that game against the Patriots with an elbow injury, said he didn't notice anything during the game that made him wonder if the Patriots were stealing signals.

"Now? Maybe," Favre said. "Before? No."

Favre did say that while watching film of New England's 31-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 30, three weeks before the Packers-Patriots game, that he noticed that the Patriots "just were flawless."

On Wednesday, Belichick issued a one-paragraph statement apologizing to his team and confirming that he has spoken to Goodell about an "interpretation" of league rules that ban videotaping of the opposing sideline, then sidestepped all questions about the matter when he met with Boston-area reporters.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy was reluctant to discuss the issue as it related to last year's loss — "I'm not going to sit here and talk about a game that we got beat thoroughly in and blame it on something like that," he said — but he did acknowledge that such information would be helpful to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

Favre agreed, calling the allegations "a serious issue." He said, for example, that if he knew a blitz was called, he could get out of a play that had just five-man protection scheme to help pick up the blitz.

"It'd be an advantage," Favre said. "I played baseball, (and) if I knew a curveball was coming, I could sit back and wait on it. (In football), if I knew a blitz was coming, I could change my protection, solidify it, whatever.

"You still have to make a good throw, you still have to block, you still have to run the route right. But there's no doubt it gives you an advantage."

Now I truly believe the Patriots are a great team and can win games without the cameraman on the sideline stealing plays, but I also believe they get a few extra point out of the situation. Something like 3 - 7 extra points on average per game. So being that they won every super bowl by 3 points. If they don't cheat, then they don't win. Who thinks they would have won all 3 super bowls if they didn't cheat?

Remember this was a team with no stars and a young quarterback who somehow was immediately blessed with picking up the blitz.

at this whole thing. cheating to have an unfair advantage. take away their rings. give the jets the win for last week. i dont believe a fu*king word out of belichik's mouth. theyre all lying cheat scum fu*kbags.